ABOVE: Aimee Bird (Tri-City Christian High School / U.S. Naval Academy), a first-team All-Pacific Coast Conference selection who helped lead Palomar to the conference women's volleyball championship, compiled a 4.0 GPA in the Fall semester. (Photo by Hugh Cox). MIDDLE LEFT: Cuyamaca women's soccer player Amber Webb (West Hills High), also a 4.0 student. LOWER RIGHT: Grossmont men's basketball  player Kurt Thompson, a 3.50-3.749 student.

Saluting 3.0 student athletes

from Fall 2008-09 semester

SAN DIEGO COUNTY / IMPERIAL COUNTY -- The Pacific Coast Conference Colleges has saluted its top athletic academic achievers from the Fall semester with inclusion on the conference's first Student-Athlete Honor Roll.

To be eligible for the PCC honor roll, an athlete must complete 12 units with at least a 3.0 grade-point average during his or hers season of sport. The PCC will honor its second group of honor student athletes for the 2008-09 school year after the Spring semester.

Imperial Valley College student athlete Nabila Gaines was named to the Honor Roll for two sports, women's volleyball and women's basketball.

2008-09 Fall Sports Pacific Coast Conference Student-Athlete Honor Roll honorees.:

CUYAMACA COLLEGE -- Men's Cross Country, Jack Schnider, Kyle Fox. Women's Cross Country, Marisela Espinoza, Hannah Lettau, Jennifer Lopez, Kalodiah Toma (4.0). Men's Basketball, Barrett Brown. Women's Soccer, Jessica Duckershen, Kimberly Lasaddle, Brittany Stephens, Amber Webb (4.0). Women's Volleyball, Jessica Dunn.

GROSSMONT COLLEGE -- Football, Jonathan Darby (4.0), Patrick Kelly (4.0), Scott Miller, Dexter Thompson, Nathan Brown, Calvin Pearce, Peter Rozok, Edwin Shepard, John Soli, Oscar Cortez, Kyle Hipp, Dan Lewis, Larry Parker, Luis Villavicencio. Women's Soccer, Clare Mooney (4.0), Morgan Brown, Christy James, Sammy Shine, Alexis Carreon, Mandy Hyde, Samantha Spatter, Ashley Moore, Ashley Murray, Cody Sparling. Women's Basketball, Sydney D'Angelo, Tiffany Klein, La'Kenya Simon-West. Men's Basketball, Ryan McNichols, Kurt Thompson, Matthew Zan, Ryan Dadrass, Seth Kluver. Men's Water Polo, Kyle Seaman, Joey Kienle, Keary Schlactus, Curtis McCabe, Kenneth Toma, Tucker Warford. Women's Volleyball, Laura Fry, Breanna Rice, Heather Brewer, Nelle Reyes, Rebecca Lawson, Joanna Vendiola.

IMPERIAL VALLEY COLLEGE -- Women's Volleyball and Women's Basketball, Nabila Gaines. Women's Volleyball, Chelsey Jensen. Men's Soccer, Israel Cruz, Mario Lopez, Fernando Serrano, Rene Valenzuela, Francisco Zamora. Women's Soccer, Charenni Gutierrez, Fernanda Moran, Yarely Romero. Men's Basketball, David Jefferson, Josh Martinez, Matt Rojas, Lee Walker. Women's Basketball, Tasha Green, Tarsha Roberts.

MIRACOSTA COLLEGE -- Women's Soccer, Katherine Dupuis, Alma Escamilla, Xiomara Garcia, Yolanda Ibarra, Cassie Wynn. Men's Soccer, Timothy Farrell, Brett Garrett, Reynaldo Lugo, Diego Mondragan, Noe Ontiveros, Hirtomo Wada, Andrew Bogue, Sean Moran, Shane Moran, Jesus Vera, Kyle Wynn. Men's Basketball, Jeremy Avriette, Thomas Nesbitt, Christopher Raybon.  Women's Basketball, Kinsey Bettencourt, Clarissa Brunt-Pluta, Megan Conroy, Julia Dito, Tiffany Hunter, Chelsea Johnson, Andrea Salas, Amy Tucker, Lindsay Tucker, Lauryn Wrege, Jordan Miranda Sileneck.

MIRAMAR COLLEGE -- Men's Basketball, Pat Eveland, Tyler Fricke, Sean Allen (4.0), Nate Easterman, Steve Jones, Erik Hartvigson. Women's Soccer, Nicole Talcott, Noel Delgado, Holly Talcott, Carly Walters, Vanessa Ybarra.

PALOMAR COLLEGE -- Men's Basketball, Daniel Gilster. Women's Basketball, Meagan O'Farrell, Melanie Wilkerson, Shannon Woodard. Men's Cross Country, Will Acuavera, Alexander Avilez, Robert Putnam, Freddy Ramos. Women's Cross Country,  Caryn Ayala, Reina Ayala, Alicia Gard-Kaminkow (4.0), Laquita Garland, Airica Morgan, Lindsey Newman, Alison Patterson, Jasmine Rios.  Football, Keith Alpichi, Jared Bamber, Christian Bautista, Tom Berry (4.0), Braxton Brennan, Steven Carroll, Keith Duhart,  Keven Duhart, Joey Erickson, Ben Fanene,  Lorenzo Greenwich, Abu Jalil, Scott Johnson, Justin Klingerman, Tyler Lavea (4.0),  Loa Madon, Filli Martinez, Cody McDole, John Middlemas,  Paul Moore, Loren Rojas, Jeff Small, J.D. Smith, Mike Tuimavave, Samuelu Tupua, Anthony Young. Women's Golf, Cora Busby, Leinati Leniu, Lauren Skladanek, Kaylynn Ward, Jeanette Washburn. Men's Soccer. Jose Arango, Oscar Cabrera, Jorge Calderon, Recep Koch, Bruno Sousa. Women's Soccer, Maria Caballero, Kylie Garcilaso, Stephanie Gonzalez, Anahi Hernandez, Jerica Snyder, Katie Stewart. Women's Volleyball, Alex Barsotti, Aimee Bird (4.0), Audrey Green, Stephanie Haley, Angela Hardy, Kylee Kammler, Felicia Penney, Courtney Tanner, Cashel White. Men's Water Polo, Daniel Knollin, Sean Sandy Bo Sidhu. Women's Water Polo, Analisa Hill. Wrestling, Aaron Eberhart (4.0), Derek Flesher, Jose Herrera, Alfredo Solis.

SAN DIEGO CITY COLLEGE -- Women's Volleyball, Erika Castro, Amy Eisenhauer, Alissa Foote, Genave Haugen,  Heather Hoff, Sarah Whorely. Women's Soccer, Nancy Alvarado, Corrine Bollendorf, Maricela Diaz de Leon, Rebekah Hash, Rachelle Padilla, Jill Schenk. Men's Soccer, Honovio Luvianos, Cory Phillips, Justin Picou, Peir Sarabia. Women's Basketball, Gina Knox. Women's Cross Country, Wendy Lucero, Katherine Oludunfe. Men's Basketball, Brentlee Boswell, Arcelon Osborn, William Smith. Men's Cross Country, Jose Anaya, Adam Shedek.

SAN DIEGO MESA COLLEGE -- Men's Basketball, Maurice Johnson, Patrick Magno, Gallman King, Broxton Dawson. Women's Basketball, Katherine Gerlek, Tamara Edwards, Annessa Jamison, Margaret Edwards, Jamie Lynn Franklin. Men's Cross Country, Bernardo Bahena, Connor Betancourt, Costner McIntosh, Barrett Tilley, Ryan McMonigle. Women's Cross Country, Melissa Luppinachi, Sheyriana Elias, Michelle Thompson, Jana Stokes, Samantha Espindola, Summer Dunsmore (4.0), Alena Shapovalova (4.0). Football, Joshua Henson-Pipkins, Gary Taylor, Michael Hanson-Estrada, Timothy Cruz, Jordan Topp, Michael Miracle, Johnny Douglas, Nicholas Hendricks, Ronald Jimmerson, Braxton Welford, John Hunter, Michael Johnson, Richard Phillips, Stanley Shurson, Sean Banks-Bell, Cody Gang, Cole Gengler, Dimitri Greene, Michael Medina, Timothy Bowersox, Kelly McNeil, Aaron Schoenecker, Oan Basson, Matthew Ridley, Matthew Collins. Men's Soccer, Ricardo Hernandez, Paul Bockenkamp, Jonathan Corrao, John Crowell, Lucas Carlsson, Jose Ledesma, Andres Liera, Fernando Yamazaki, John Wallin. Women's Soccer, Chelsea Gentry, Katelyn Houlihan, Jocelyn Seaman, Ashley Sanborn, Rebecca Wardle, Samantha Wellenger, Sierra Williams, Candace Newton, Stephany Rodriguez, Danielle Carr. Women's Volleyball, Amber Davidson, Ianna Mariano, Alison Noble, Heather Hartwell, Yasmeen Cortez-Karimi, Denisse Martinez, Lyndsey Shippy, Iara Rocchi. Men's Water Polo, Nicholas Lockhart, Andrew Shaffer, Jerid Hinze, Patrick Sellers, Matthew Siordia, Gregory Hoffman, Nicholas Van Nordheim, Joshua Denz (4.0). Women's Water Polo, Lauren Cono, Natalie Ann Thompson, Elizabeth Concepcion, Mary Kate Foster, Alicia Harding, Danielle Webb, Emily Rose, Catalina Barraza (4.0), Melanie McElroy (4.0).

Note: Honor roll Information supplied by each Pacific Coast Conference member college. No information available from Southwestern.

Links:

Please click on logo to go to desired web site

Pacific Coast Conference

California Community College Athletic Association / Commission on Athletics

Southern California Football Association

Questions about this web site? contact Tom Saxe

Counselor's Corner:

The Importance of an Associate Degree for the Student-Athlete

Note: Author Kristina Ortiz Carson is an Athletic and General Counselor at San Diego Mesa College. Ms. Carson received a B.A. in Psychology from San Diego State University and an M.A. in College Counseling from the University of San Diego.

By Kristina Ortiz Carson

Why do I need an Associate Degree? 

As someone who works frequently with the student-athlete population, I hear this question all the time. 

An associate degree has several benefits for the typical community college student but it is essential for a large percentage of student-athletes.  Before I mention the key reasons for obtaining an associate degree, I will mention the overall benefits of an associate degree.

Benefits of an Associate’s Degree:

n   The associate degree has distinctive earning potential in the job market.  According to the Census Bureau, over an adult’s working life, high school graduates earn an average of 1.2 million and associate’s degree holders earn about 1.6 million (Day and Newburger, 2002).  Though this distinction may seem small, it is a sizeable difference and many of these associate degree holders eventually earn a bachelor’s degree or higher.

n   Earning an associate’s degree looks excellent on job resumes and/or on transfer applications. 

n   Some four year colleges and universities prefer or require an associate degree in order to meet transfer admission requirements.

n   The community college student is rewarded for fulfilling his/her educational goal at the two year college.  If the student is planning to transfer to a four year institution to pursue a bachelor’s degree then he/she will have two degrees, once the bachelor’s degree is completed.

Benefits of an Associate Degree for the Student-Athlete:

n   The four points mentioned above

n   If the student-athlete is deemed a non-qualifier by the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Eligibility Center and the student-athlete plans to transfer to a Division I institution, h/she must earn an associate degree to be athletically eligible at the four year college or university.  If the student-athlete obtains an associate degree, he/she may practice, receive financial aid and may play right away during the first year of transfer.* 

n   If the student-athlete is deemed a non-qualifier by the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Eligibility Center and the student-athlete plans to transfer to a Division II institution, then he/she must earn an associate degree and complete at least two full semester or three quarters as a full-time student OR complete an average of 12 semester or 12 quarter units for each full-time term (these courses must be transferable toward the student-athletes degree at the four year school) and have a cumulative GPA of 2.0.  As you can see, the associate degree is not a “must have” for Division II but based on my experience most of my student-athletes who plan to transfer to DII institutions, need an associate degree because they have not fulfilled the second option.

n   If the student-athlete attended a four year institution, then a community college and then wanted to transfer to different Division I four year institution, then he/she must earn an associate degree (plus additional requirements).  If he/she obtains the associate degree, he/she may practice, may receive financial aid and may play right away during the first year after transfer.*

n   If the student-athlete attended a four year institution, then a community college and then wanted to transfer to different Division II four year institution, he/she would again have the option of obtaining an associate degree and he/she would need to complete two full semesters or three full quarters at the community college OR complete an average of 12 semester or 12 quarter units for each full-time term (these courses must be transferable toward the student-athletes degree at the four year school) and have a cumulative GPA of 2.0.

(Additional progress toward the degree rules from the NCAA, the conference or the four-year institution may affect whether the student-athlete may play)

 -----

The question now becomes, why would you not want to obtain an associate degree?

An associate degree holds economic value, prestige, a step to the next level and for student-athletes it meets NCAA transfer admission requirements.   Plainly stated, an associate degree is the key to opening many windows of opportunities.

Note: This article is based on my personal experience and NCAA academic eligibility rules and regulations